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I see the Malaysian palm oil industry is still in denial about the devastation it has wreaked over Sarawak and Sabah. Not forgetting Indonesia. The industry fools no one.   

Its spokespeople have clearly learnt nothing from the exposure and bruising they have received over the years from the media and NGOs.

A few years back the industry paid an eye-watering sum of money to consultants to lobby on its behalf, but they only made matters worse and we no longer hear from them.

Curiously, in over 15 years of raising public awareness of the environmental cost of palm oil, I have never once come across a wholesaler or retailer trying to deny the harm done to forests and wildlife by palm oil companies. They all know the truth. Only the palm oil industry, the real villains, try to deny the undeniable and they fail every time.

In attempting to mislead the public, the Malaysian palm oil industry would have a better chance of persuading consumers that planet earth is flat and square.

Consumer awareness of palm oil in food and other goods is at an all-time high. I don’t hear anyone doubting what they see and read in the media about the loss of rainforests, orangutans, elephants and countless other species.

For the purpose of clarity let me repeat myself here. I am not anti-palm oil. It is a very useful, but not irreplaceable ingredient in many household products. There are alternatives which some supermarkets are already using. What I do oppose is the industry’s wholesale and wanton destruction of so much rainforest and wildlife and its blatant denial it is in any way responsible.   

Until the Malaysian palm oil industry changes its operating procedures and spokespeople, the negative media comment will continue and the public perception of palm oil being tainted with the blood of murdered orangutans, elephants, tigers and many more species will remain the same.

All this expense and bad press when the industry only needs admit the truth, learn from the past - not live in it, and then mend their ways very quickly.

There is a notorious logging company in Indonesia who attracted as much bad press as the palm oil industry. Tired of its own deceit and resultant bad publicity the company changed its policies practically overnight, and last week for the first time ever I saw some a positive independent report about the company.

The palm oil industry is increasingly seen by many as evil and deceitful. It will remain this way until it too, tires of trying to deceive the public. There is no future in trying to fool consumers. The world is littered with companies who tried to and failed, at enormous cost to their bank balances and reputations. Honesty is always the best policy.


SEAN WHYTE is the CEO of Nature Alert.

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